ECATBoard Meeting ( To Print click here )
01.23.08
Absent:Nancy DiRocco
1.Approvalof Minutes
Glyffymotioned to approve, Bob seconded, all approved
2. City Agreement
Mayorwill correct the payment schedule so all language referring to it is “twice ayear”.
Boarddiscussed the fact that the City has asked for 10% of our annual operatingbudget by referencing a clause in the Agreement, in which we are required togive them an undetermined amount of $ for “PEG related services”. It was decided that Glyffy will contact him to ask what kind of PEG related services hewill be using the $ for, and if that will be information that is made availableto the public. This is a last minuteaddition that the City has made to the Agreement that makes a huge differencein our Operating Budget, and this needs to be disputed. Glyffy will take the first step by setting upa time to discuss it with him.
Boarddiscussed Verizon’s responsibility to town if they start offering services toresidents. Greg will look into the regulations that are in place for companiessuch as Verizon entering town and being required to give Public Access funding- he believes Verizon does fall under that regulation but will report back.
Boardalso discussed the fact that Charter can use public access to their advantageto sway customers to stay with Charter instead of going to satelliteservices. When public access providesvaluable programming to the community, Charter can retain customers because ofthis asset.
3. Town Hall location option: Gregwill set up a time to meet, days and times were discussed. It is almost definitely too small, but wewill look at the space and think about at least wiring it for future Flywheelshoots.
Eastworkshas a $1000 / month space of 2700 square feet. That would be enough space for us. Greg will look into this.
4. The van cannot be fixed until it is registered, so it will stay in storage for now.
5. Paychex is $34.29 per billing cycle. This seems to be a good option to use for our paychecks and accounting, but vote wasn’t held because we await a report from Nancy on findings and a final agreement with City.
6. Greg presented insurance packages and costs that other local stations have. A good option sounds like Alliant company, that offers a group pricing through the Alliance for Community Media. Greg will get a quote from Aliant.
7. Votes for Purchases
-There is a local Mass Access conference. This is a keytime for Greg and Brian to be talking other stations and learning aboutstarting up in a new location, nonprofit tips, and general community networkingwith other Massachusettsstations. It will be under $200 fortheir conference fee and travel. Boardpassed for tis spending unanimously.
-There is a $30 start up kit for nonprofit community TVstations. Board declined to purchase this as we have already done most of thesteps that instructions are given for.
-$750 application fee to IRS that needs to be sent in withFederal 501c3 application. Board decidedto hold off on this, and therefore applying for a nonprofit status, until the10% cut to our Operating Budget by the City is resolved. Thiscut can effect our budget substantially and was not taken into account when webudgeted for our nonprofit status expenses. We will hold off on paying this fee and applying until we have made afinal decision to go ahead with it.
8. We talked about health plans that other local stations offer, that Greg and Becca found. Glyffy presented information on the Insurance Partnership who can provide assistance to employers to provide financial assistance to their employees for health insurance. She will look into a few questions that were raised for the next meeting.
9. CORI check policy update
Glyffyfound that the coding system for CORI check results has over 1900 codes fordifferent offenses. Questions raised indiscussion such as: will school continue to pay for CORI checks for allvolunteers that will be filming school events, even when we aren’t operatingwithin the Middle School? Do we CORIcheck people before they take a workshop, or when they sign up to volunteer tofilm for an event with children present? It could cut back on volunteering if we make all volunteers, even thoseinterested in only filming non-children events, get a CORI check (and expensiveto run so many checks). This discussionwill be continued again at next meeting, as no apparent resolution could bereached without even more information. Greg will check into other station’spolicies, both stations inside schools and those that are not.
Executivesession was postponed to Wed. January 30 at the Senior Center,5:30 pm to discuss employee contracts.
Nextmeeting:
February27, 6:00 pm, ECAT station within White Brook Middle School
Onagenda:
Rulesand Procedures updates for Station
CORIupdate and policy discussion
10%City cut from our Operating Budget: update with Glyffy – perhaps an updatebefore then so we can take action?
Otherreal estate/rentals available
Alliantinsurance quote
Employeecontract update
Nancy- it would be greatto get a recommendation from you for an accountant for next meeting, and info.on what other local companies use for paychecks and accounting/tax services
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
ECAT Channel 5 Board Meeting - 9 January 2008
ECAT Channel 5 Board Meeting
January 9, 2008 6:00 pm
All board members present
Print me here...
1. Ecat’s CORI check Policy
A new policy was put in place in which all prospective volunteers for ECAT will have a CORI check run on them before they assist at the station. If things come up on the CORI check, the board will decide how to proceed with using the volunteer from then on. Glyffy will get a list of offenses to look over at the next meeting, so the policy can be filled out to include what levels of offenses are permitted for volunteers, and at which levels we draw the cut off line.
2. Tax Prep. / Pay roll
We need to hire someone to do payroll and tax preparation for the new non profit entity. Nancy will look into local options, and companies that local businesses and agencies use in town. She will get back to Greg about this.
3. Town Hall
There is five or six hundred square feet available next to Flywheel’s upcoming space in Town Hall. It’s a possibility that ECAT and Flywheel could share the bigger performance space both for musical performances and studio shoots. There is also some room in the basement for storage. In the next year or two the upper level of the Town Hall will be finished renovation, and we could also use the stage for shoots, and shoot town events that take place there. The advantages (high visibility, close to Iloop, immediate connection with arts community in town, less maintenance and effort when we are renting) were weighed with the disadvantages (probably will not be enough space, long term investment goal of buying a building would not be met).
It was decided that Greg will set up a time to have the board and Flywheel people meet at the Town Hall to look at space and discuss. This needs to happen soon because Flywheel will begin their renovations in roughly a month.
Grants may be easy to get because of the community / arts / historical building angles.
4.The grant from the Cultural Council was not received for filming the Arts in the Park concert series
5.A new high school student employee has been hired to assist filming meetings and updating the community calendar, among other tasks 6-8 hours per week.
6.Agreement with City
Station’s agreement with City was gone over for final draft. A stipulation about the duration of the contract was discussed; Rebecca will look into the precedent of other local station’s terms within their city / station agreements.
City has found a part of the contract that allows for a percentage of the Operating Budget to go to the city for PEG access and “related services”.
Greg will look into the annual vs semi annual language in the payment section of the City agreement. The contract will be going back to the City after the changes the Board makes, for the last draft and signing.
7.Insurance research
Greg has looked into insurance packages for station, including BOD errors and omissions, cable casters errors and omissions, liability for equipment, liability for grounds, etc. BOD would like Greg to get a breakdown for us for all different options and packages available for the next meeting. Bob suggested getting replacement value costs for all equipment. BOD suggested looking into other local station’s policies to see what other similar organizations do.
Glyffy will call the new board member and see if he would like to come after the next meeting.
Brian ; It may be a good idea to have you email the Inventory list to the members of the Board, just in case anything happens to the station.
Next meeting will be January 23rd, 6:00 – 7:00 pm. Executive Session to discuss employee contracts will be 7:00 – 8:00 pm.
Next Meeting:
Rules and Procedures
The van
Equipment Purchases
Updates on insurance research, City Agreement, Town Hall optionlocal Tax Prep / Accountant options.
For Executive Session:
-job descriptions – Greg and Brian (I believe we already have Brian’s)
-contract updates to use as a starting ground for discussion - (I believe we already have Brian’s)
-do research into health / 401k / worker’s comp standards – Glyffy offered to look into numbers for new insurance costs under new law, and insurance partnership info.
January 9, 2008 6:00 pm
All board members present
Print me here...
1. Ecat’s CORI check Policy
A new policy was put in place in which all prospective volunteers for ECAT will have a CORI check run on them before they assist at the station. If things come up on the CORI check, the board will decide how to proceed with using the volunteer from then on. Glyffy will get a list of offenses to look over at the next meeting, so the policy can be filled out to include what levels of offenses are permitted for volunteers, and at which levels we draw the cut off line.
2. Tax Prep. / Pay roll
We need to hire someone to do payroll and tax preparation for the new non profit entity. Nancy will look into local options, and companies that local businesses and agencies use in town. She will get back to Greg about this.
3. Town Hall
There is five or six hundred square feet available next to Flywheel’s upcoming space in Town Hall. It’s a possibility that ECAT and Flywheel could share the bigger performance space both for musical performances and studio shoots. There is also some room in the basement for storage. In the next year or two the upper level of the Town Hall will be finished renovation, and we could also use the stage for shoots, and shoot town events that take place there. The advantages (high visibility, close to Iloop, immediate connection with arts community in town, less maintenance and effort when we are renting) were weighed with the disadvantages (probably will not be enough space, long term investment goal of buying a building would not be met).
It was decided that Greg will set up a time to have the board and Flywheel people meet at the Town Hall to look at space and discuss. This needs to happen soon because Flywheel will begin their renovations in roughly a month.
Grants may be easy to get because of the community / arts / historical building angles.
4.The grant from the Cultural Council was not received for filming the Arts in the Park concert series
5.A new high school student employee has been hired to assist filming meetings and updating the community calendar, among other tasks 6-8 hours per week.
6.Agreement with City
Station’s agreement with City was gone over for final draft. A stipulation about the duration of the contract was discussed; Rebecca will look into the precedent of other local station’s terms within their city / station agreements.
City has found a part of the contract that allows for a percentage of the Operating Budget to go to the city for PEG access and “related services”.
Greg will look into the annual vs semi annual language in the payment section of the City agreement. The contract will be going back to the City after the changes the Board makes, for the last draft and signing.
7.Insurance research
Greg has looked into insurance packages for station, including BOD errors and omissions, cable casters errors and omissions, liability for equipment, liability for grounds, etc. BOD would like Greg to get a breakdown for us for all different options and packages available for the next meeting. Bob suggested getting replacement value costs for all equipment. BOD suggested looking into other local station’s policies to see what other similar organizations do.
Glyffy will call the new board member and see if he would like to come after the next meeting.
Brian ; It may be a good idea to have you email the Inventory list to the members of the Board, just in case anything happens to the station.
Next meeting will be January 23rd, 6:00 – 7:00 pm. Executive Session to discuss employee contracts will be 7:00 – 8:00 pm.
Next Meeting:
Rules and Procedures
The van
Equipment Purchases
Updates on insurance research, City Agreement, Town Hall optionlocal Tax Prep / Accountant options.
For Executive Session:
-job descriptions – Greg and Brian (I believe we already have Brian’s)
-contract updates to use as a starting ground for discussion - (I believe we already have Brian’s)
-do research into health / 401k / worker’s comp standards – Glyffy offered to look into numbers for new insurance costs under new law, and insurance partnership info.
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